Thursday, April 16, 2009

Have You Seen "3 Wide Life" Yet?

There are few independent TV series on-the-air today about NASCAR. Between getting access at the race tracks, buying footage from the sanctioning body and trying to schedule driver interviews, the challenge is daunting.

Once again this year, Leverage Sports of Charlotte, NC is producing one such TV series called 3 Wide Life. After a tough start last season, the show has taken on some new cast members and made a splash on the TV scene.

One reason for that splash is named Shane Hmiel. Rarely does NASCAR like to have someone who has struggled with off-track issues appear on TV and talk racing. Hmiel has proven to be fearless in his new sobriety and takes on all types of email questions from viewers. Off-camera, Hmiel is driving sprints and midgets with solid success, including a midget sponsored by the 3 Wide Life series.

The current episode of the series features an exclusive profile of Red Bull driver Scott Speed, who is pictured above. Questions include putting Speed on the spot about his last name. The series producers have been after Speed for an interview and promise that his segment on the program will not disappoint.

Tony Rizzuti hosts a tech segment in each show and this time is at the huge Windshear rolling wind tunnel. Seeing this amazing contraption never gets old and Rizzuti will update fans on what the facility has been doing with official NASCAR testing at the tracks still banned.

Charlotte local Brittney Cason hosts the program and her location this week is the historic Greenville Pickens Speedway. ARCA driver Steve Arpin is interviewed and the history of the Greenville Pickens track will also be explained to viewers.

The 3widelife.com website is the best way to find the TV program in your area. The show appears almost everywhere on local TV stations, regional sports networks and other media outlets. Check it out if you have a chance and give us your feedback.

TDP welcomes comments from readers. Just click on the comments button below. This is a family-friendly website, please keep that in mind when posting.

19 comments:

I watched the show last week and was most impressed with Shane Hmiel's interview with Tony Stewart. I was so disappointed when he had his drug troubles and hate it that he was banned from NASCAR for life. Glad to see he's on the right track now.

as i should be getting set for work, i only had a chance for a quick look at the site. screened a couple videos and then looked over the airtimes listed. i smiled when i saw st croix b/c surely if 3WL had been picked up in st croix, i'd come upon the philly market somewhere on the list, right? no such luck.

so, i'll spend time tonight trying to find an online source that will give me entire episodes. jd, when you first wrote about 3WL, i tried to track it down to no success but i'm willing to try again now b/c i'm interested in the program.

@karen: i, too was disappointed in shane's drug abuse and while i supported his suspension, it stunk that he wasn't racing. it's great to see him doing well and i wish him all the success he can earn in his new life.

You have got to be kidding!TWL is just another, formulaic mish-mosh in the now-ancient MTV style of TV.

Come on Mr Daly! For all of your well thought rants about the total lack of editorial credibility in the sport, I fail to see how you can endorse this tv tabloid trash.Honestly, the first presentaion on the web site is a self-promoting UNTALENTED female presenter???!!

Red, I live in the Hershey PA area and found out that Comcast (my cable provider) has MASN. It's the Mid-Atlantic Sports Network. If you go to masntv.com at the top of the page you'll see a channel finder link. Just click on it and it'll ask you for your provider from a drop down list and for your zip code. If your provider carries it, it'll tell you what channel it is on. I hope that helps.

The format is ok and the content is fair. Shane is entertaining, the interviews that they get are good, but the host is awful and the production value is really bad. Is it that they don't have much of a budget?? I'm not sure who it's produced by.

Not trying to rag on them but it could use a little more production quality.

I looked at the 3WL web site and found the show listed for LV. I checked the guide to tape it and it's not there. I'll have to do some more research I guess.

@ red, being the computer dummy that I am, would this show be on Hulu or JustinTV? I haven't been to those sites, so I don't know how they work. Maybe I'll go to one myself and find out. (JD, sorry to mention sites).

@lorraine: thanks for the lead: i was unaware of masn. unfortunately, it appears masn only covers the central part of pa and i'm outside philly, over on the east side of the state.

@dot: i'm headed into internet-land to try and track this down. hulu is a no-go (in my opinion, hulu ain't all it's cracked up to be.) justin-tv i believe carries live streaming only but i'll drop by there as well.

jd: any ideas? do you have any contacts in the 3WL team to try and get a fan a site on which to watch full episodes?

thanks for the additional info, nrf. frustrating to want to actually watch something racing related and not be able to b/c of the weak market penetration. no one's fault, just the way it is sometimes. i've bookmarked 3WL and will catch what i can that way for now.

but it sure would be nice if, oh, SPEED decided to live up to it's name and maybe carry it, doncha think?

@anon@4:31: thank you! from what little i can see, the show actually works hard to provide information so i can live with the less than stellar production values. bells and whistles cost big bucks and, as you correctly point out, we've been screaming about all the extra "stuff" on race broadcasts forever. it's perversely refreshing to NOT be bombarded.

but, as all i'm viewing are the excerpts on the 3WL site, i can't really see it in context.

Mr DalyI'm not hostile, although it appears my accent comes across in posts ! (nod-nod; wink-wink)

My point is this, 3wl and every other tv-ish outlet have 12 seconds, that's twelve seconds, to catch a viwer's attention. Look at this program's open! I said it's rubbish and I stand by that. If Shane's on camera stuff is good, then they need to put it up front, and in place of a self promoting no talent female "presenter"

My point is this, 3wl and every other tv-ish outlet have 12 seconds, that's twelve seconds, to catch a viewer's attention.I don't know about your attention span, but I don't make a decision that quickly.

not available anywhere in central NYS. Too bad they don't have it online; I'd have liked to check it out.

Bray, keep in mind that general 'statistics' like that don't apply to everyone. A race fan coming across something race related is going to stay longer. Plenty of us are not channel surfers. Also, perhaps they won't get you in the first 12 seconds, and you flip back, they could get you in the next 12...:)